V.A. Zhukovsky in the Crimea: in search of the second homeland

The authors of the article with the help of the new materials comment on the steadfast interest of V.A. Zhukovsky to the realia of the Crimean Tatars' world during his trip around the Crimea in September of 1837. On the authors' opinion that interest was connected with the Turkish origin of his mother Salha. AftertheRussianarmy having captured the town of Bendery in 1770, she was taken and sent to Russia for fosterage of rich landowner Afanasiy Bunin. Byallaccounts, shewasfr оmthePasha'sharem. The-beautifulgirlhasbeentaughtRussianlanguageandchristened in Orthodoxy underthe name of Elizaveta Turchaninova.ItwasshewhogavebirthtoA. Bunin'sonlyson. The description of Zhukovsky's mother was given in her passport: "Medium height, black hair, swarthy face, hazel eyes". She has retained a habit to sit with her legscrossed. It was the pose in whather son, who inherited his mother's hazel eyes and pitch-black curly hair, portrayed her later. 54-years old tsar's tutor went to the Crimea to meet face to face the world of her mother's culture. He wanted to experience the atmosphere of his unknown second motherland at least partially. His mother never told him about her past. Shewastreatedwellintherichestate;she became even a housekeeper and a close friend of Bunin's wife.They died in one year and one month - in May of 1811. But he - Salha's bastard - was made a nobleman. He was bringing up separately from his mother, who was the privileged but still a servant. That's why they had no sincere intimacy and in general the question of their kinship was painful and dangerous for him, it was untouchable in public. The more acute was his inner interest towards his mother's world. The materials of the writer's diary make it possible to state that in the year of A.S. Pushkin's death he organized the commemorational evening in the memory of his student and younger friend in the Bakhchisaray Palace. The members of the Imperial family and the great number of guests took part in that event. Forthatreason V. Zhukovsky included thevisit of the future tsar Alexander II to the Crimea and Bakhchisarayinto the programme of his journey around Russia. On September 23 the Empress with her daughter arrived to Bakhchisaray. They were met by the leaders of civil and military power, religious leaders, and representatives of community. The programme of meeting was finished late at night with the recitation of A. Pushkin's poem "Bakhchisaray Fountain" in the Khan's palace. That was the very first event organized in commemoration of the poet after his death.

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